Farewell to Man U star Harry Gregg, 87
MANCHESTER United great Harry Gregg wanted to be remembered as a footballer, not the hero of the Munich air crash, mourners at his funeral heard.
Sir Bobby Charlton, one of the players Gregg pulled from the burning wreckage of the plane, was among mourners who gathered to say farewell to the goalkeeper, whose courage in the aftermath of the 1958 disaster is part of club folklore.
Fellow United legends Sir Alex Ferguson and Denis Law also attended the service in Gregg’s home town of Coleraine, in Northern Ireland.
The former Swansea City manager and Northern Ireland international, who was named the best goalkeeper of the 1958 World Cup, died earlier this week aged 87.
He will be forever associated with the tragedy in Munich in February 1958, when a plane transporting Matt Busby’s young Manchester United side back from a European game in the former Yugoslavia crashed on a snowy runway after a refuelling stop.
Gregg survived the crash, which claimed 23 lives, and twice returned to the burning fuselage to drag United team-mates and strangers to safety.
He rescued United players Sir Bobby and Dennis Viollet from the BEA Flight 609, as well as a 20-month-old child and her badly injured pregnant mother.
His funeral coincidentally was held on the anniversary of Duncan Edwards’ death.
The 21-year-old United and England star was the final victim of the disaster, dying in a Munich hospital two weeks after the tragedy.
Members of the Edwards family attended Gregg’s funeral at St Patrick’s Parish Church in the town centre, which was packed to capacity, with a large crowd listening to the service outside in the rain.
BBC NI sports presenter Stephen Watson delivered a eulogy to the congregation, including Gregg’s widow, Carolyn.